An update from our amazing Charity chairperson, Eileen – keep up the good work ladies!

Since September of last year, this guild has done some really awesome things in the name of charity. First the placemat donation to Lunch Break, quickly followed by the twenty two quilts we donated to the residents of the HABcore boarding home,  both in Red Bank, NJ.

Last month it was the thirteen children’s quilts to the Valerie Center at Monmouth Medical in Long Branch, NJ.  Awesome!!

Our latest donation is our Quiltcon 2015 charity quilt submission. I initially reached out to the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center in hopes of donating quilts for the children there. The Advocacy Center is run by the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office for children who are the victims of sexual assault, abuse, and neglect. I was told that they are unable to give the children gifts of any kind as they could be misconstrued as a gift in exchange for testimony in court hearings. It’s a shame that the world has become so skeptical even when it comes to an act of good deed, but in the end those quilts went to the Valerie Center and I had the good fortune of meeting Lynn Reich of the Friends of the Advocacy Center.

Lynn accepted our Quiltcon charity quilt to be auctioned off at their fundraising event at Grape Beginnings in Eatontown, NJ on April 22nd. We met at Starbucks and it felt like meeting an old friend.  What was supposed to be a quick handoff turned into the better part of an hour. We enlisted a stranger to take this photo of us.

I sincerely hope they can raise some money with this quilt.  You can read about the event on their website www.friendsofmccac.org

We may have shrunk in size, in terms of membership, but certainly not in heart!  I look forward to the chance to continue to serve our community and another charitable year for the guild.  Thank you to everyone for making all of this possible. Eileen